


Force of Discordance

by StevoCPP



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Euthanasia, F/F, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 07:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8788405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StevoCPP/pseuds/StevoCPP
Summary: Unable to deal with the consequences of Chloe's request, Max uses her time travel powers to shape the future the way she wants it. However, another Max is now left behind to deal with the outcomes, stuck in a timeline with a looming curse.





	

  
_“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.”  
_

-Philip K. Dick

#### Price Residence - Chloe’s Room

#### October 10th, 2013 8:19 AM

The soft chirpings from the birds slowly stir the life in this small peaceful neighborhood, under the clear blue sky. Dim hafts from the Thursday morning sunlight bathes through the dust covered window glass, softly lighting up the cobalt-blue colored walls in the room.

Throughout this room lies several mementos of a once better life for the two Arcadia Bay pirates. These yearning treasures are engulfed by the modern, expensive medical devices that look like they are straight from an intensive urgent care room from a cutting-edge hospital. The hospice care that these pieces of equipment provide, only delay the inevitable for the resentful blonde. An invisible mist of death fills into this rather luminous room, between a grim conversation of the two best friends.

Chloe Price, who suffered from a car accident back in 2011, that left her completely paralyzed below her neck. Her deteriorating respiratory system is on its way to a complete collapse. According to the doctors, there’s little to no hope for recovery in this state. The staggering amount of medical costs will cripple her family for the rest of their life, long after Chloe’s death. With all of this in mind, Chloe wishes to no longer be a burden to anyone, therefore choosing to end her life. However, her parents refuse to give up all hopes. They cannot assist the suicide of their only child that they love so dearly.

With everyone else turning their back, Chloe asks for the assistance of the last trustworthy person in her life, Max Caulfield. So far, she has been resisting to her request and dodging with her final answer.

Chloe forces out again through her thickening throat. “For once, I want to make my own choice… the most important one of my life. Please…” She blinks her eyes, allowing a tear to stream down her cheek. “...help me, Max.”

Max stares absently into the helplessness that looms over her best friend. Sensing the absolute loss of hopes she, however, cannot bring herself to assist her death by giving her an overdose of morphine. “Chloe… I can’t.” She shakes her head, pushing with force with the straining words out of her throat. “It wrecks me to see you in any pain, but I don’t have any right to do this.”

“I’m an adult. I’m giving you the right.”

“But Joyce… and William…” The brunette looks over her shoulder at the door of the room, where Chloe’s caring father resides on the other side, looking at the pile of bills that he will never be able to pay off. A part of her wishes that her parents will barge through the door to suppress this conversation.

Chloe’s voice oddly remains calm and serene. “I already said my goodbyes to them, but they won’t honor my wishes. You will… right?”

“I can’t…kill you with an overdose.” The brunette squeezes those words out of her throat.

Chloe looks on with soft eye contact, sensing her best friend is beginning to slip away to the join the rest of the world to turn their back on her. “Max, I’m dying from my illness, not my dosage. This accelerates the process. I’d rather go out on a wave than a rock. And I want my best friend to help me out…”

Max bites the inside of her bottom lip, forcefully replying back, “I am going to help you, but not like this. You have to believe me, Chloe.”

Chloe shakes her head in disbelief, fully realizing that nothing she can say will ever convince her. Just like everyone else in this world, Max is going to disregard her plea. “Why, Max? You’re just bailing on me like everybody else. Why don’t you go now?” The bitter resentment seethes out of her meaningless and empty body, taking over her face, as she is unable to maintain her gaze at the loss of all hope. She jerks her head sharply away, pushing her words from her clenched jaws, “You’ve been wanting to since you got here, right? So go...and don’t come back.” Her bitter words leave a thick mist of silent tension in the air.

“Chloe, I am never leaving you again.” Max’s shoulders slump over, as her head drifts uncomfortably away from her best friend, directing her attention to the picture in front of her. The picture is of them making pancakes about five years ago in the photo album.

Max scans the room for one last time, settling her stare at her frustrated best friend, who is facing away from her. There aren’t any more things she can say to rectify the situation, nor is there any reasons to. This cursed timeline is going to wipe away from existence, as she will return to a far more favorable timeline.

With a simple change with her time travel powers, she is going to make everything right, by going back in time and return everything to the way it was before, by letting Chloe’s father, William die. Then Chloe will no longer be terminally ill and bounded to a wheelchair. She will be back in blue.

Max picks up the picture from the album, gripping it in her fingers. Her eyes are red, and her lips quivering at the thought of what she has to do next. She doesn’t want to do it. But she can’t stand seeing her best friend suffer anymore. Her eyebrows pinch together, focusing on the picture and whispering softly, “I’m sorry, William…”

Chloe’s ear twitches at the mention of her father’s name, not understanding the meaning of it. It doesn’t do anything to curb her increasingly frustration and resentment that is fuming in her hollow body.

More and more she connects the dots, thinking how she is neglected by everyone. How Max didn’t visit her since the car accident when Chloe needed her the most. William had to actually remind Max to keep in touch with her crippled best friend. Basically, Chloe has been on a slow one-way trip to hell. And everyone she knows is watching her from a distant as she slowly descends to her condemnation.

If she isn’t disabled, it would be satisfying to just propel onto her feet to unleash this rage onto her friend. “You will always leave me behind. A few postcards and cute gestures won’t cut it. Not anymore. I’m sick of pretending that people in this world even give a fucking shit about me.” Her lips tremble, with a single stream of tears dripping down her face, “Fuck all of this…”

Max clenches her teeth, as a jarring throb twists like a knife deep into her brain, driving her into a forward hunched position. She squeezes her eyes closed, covering her nose with her fingers. A small trail of blood escapes from it, halting right above her upper lip. She lets out a groan, “Chloe... Fuck…”

A series of rapid disorderly images roar into her vision, forcing her to clench her teeth to brace against the vivid assault to her sensory. It feels absolutely real as if she is watching from afar, with someone else in control of her body. Another version of her.

Max sees a younger version of herself standing right in front of the fireplace, sporting a blue shirt and black shorts. _This was the day we were making pancakes with Chloe’s dad, but I don’t remember this moment._ The little girl tosses the picture that they took together that day, into the fireplace. The memento for that very moment burns away without any reluctance from the little girl. She, then turns around, creeping cautiously to the hallway, observing with a melancholic look at William, who is standing in the hallway with his car keys, readied to walk out. _Why did I burn away this photo? I don’t remember doing this. Wait... I did remember I wasn’t feeling well, and Chloe was telling me I was being odd._ William walks away, off into the bright tunnel, where the front door would be. _Wait, this didn’t happen. He didn’t take his car that day._

The vision fades back to reality, causing Max to jerk her head back with force. Another stream of blood drips down her nose, but she catches it with her fingers. Faint, frantic shoutings can be heard inside her mind like whispering of ghosts.

_“Max! It’s Dad. It doesn’t look good. He got into a car accident. Mom is on her way to the hospital. The police are going to be here any minute to give us a ride.”_

_“What?!?! Okay! I’ll be right there.”_

The voice fades away, along with the color in Max’s face. “Chloe…” Her voice is weak.

Chloe turns around, still with the furious look. But her expression quickly dampens at the horrifying sight of her best friend’s discolored and dazed look with her nose bleeding. “Max?” Her voice becomes increasingly filled with concerns.

“Something isn’t right…” Max looks down at the album, seeing the exact same photograph that she just tossed into the fireplace in her vision. “No, it isn’t a vision. It’s real...” She topples off her chair, landing flat onto the floor.

“Max!” Chloe screams as loud as she can, as the brunette blacks out.

#### Price Residence - 1F (Alternate Timeline)

#### October 10th, 2013 8:24 AM

The scene fades from the bright white into a room that is illuminated by a bright pink-orange hue from an American flag being hung in front of the window. _This looks like Chloe’s room. Much messier..._ Max looks down, realizing she doesn’t even have a body, like as if she is a ghost. She sees another version of her, that looks identical, same age and everything except wearing a gray hoodie jacket with a black shirt. _That’s me…_

The other version of her has a disorienting stare as she slowly turns away from the large cardboard drawing cutout that Max and Chloe drew together back in the days. There is another girl in the room, sitting in front of the desk and laptop, with her back facing them. She has short blue hair and wearing a white tank top. “Chloe, you’re back! Yes!” This other Max dashes across the room, surprising the bluenette with a hug.

_Chloe? That’s Chloe?!?_

“Whoa-ho! Down, Max! You get one kiss and now you’re all over me…” Chloe turns around, with a mixture of confusion and warmth.

_She’s so… different. What the hell happened to her? And she’s not in a wheelchair._

The other Max stammers, the immense joy is choking away at her throat. “I’m just… I’m just- I’m so glad you’re here!” She pats down the pale shoulder of the punk girl.

Chloe looks back with a blanched face, but still able to push out a joke through her throat in a dry tone, “You sound high, but thanks for the morning grope.”

The sound of rumbling roars the scene, as it quickly erupts away into a blinding white fire.

#### Price Residence - 1F

#### October 10th, 2013 8:25 AM

Max blinks owlishly, stirring herself awake as her vision slowly becomes clearer. The sunlight bathes through tall living room glass doors riddled with scratch marks, reflecting off the tacky white couch with tiny strawberry designs on it, that Max is lying on. She groans as the energy slowly seeps back into her body. William’s head appears in her sight, looking down at her.

“Are you okay, Max?” William gently presses the moist white towel against her fuming forehead. “Your nose stopped bleeding but you have a slight fever. But you’re all tough like a Seattleite.” He lets out a cheesy laugh.

“Dad…” Chloe’s disapproval voice is heard, but she is out of sight.

“Y-y-yeah…” Max stammers, gently raising her head softly, and seeing William is sitting in a chair, pressed up close to the couch. Behind him, is Chloe in her wheelchair. “I’m fine.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. _I had a dream that made me very upset. But I can’t remember too much about it… it had something to do with me… and Chloe._

“Well, you scared my Chloe. Can I get you anything?” William gets up from his chair, and heads straight into the kitchen, opening the fridge. “We have water and uh…” His voice drops lower, “...water.” He walks away from the fridge, returning to the line of the sight of the brunette. “We been trying to save money, so we have been cutting down on certain foods and drinks. At least until we can get some good discounts or coupons.”

Max curiously looks around, gathering her bearings in the living room. This all feels a blend of foreign, yet somehow familiar. The birds chirping outside through the closed glass doors brings some signs of life to the mute scene. She clears her throat, “Mmm… water is fine, William.”

“Alrighty, Max.” The exhausted-looking father grabs a cup from the cupboard and fills it with some tap water from the sink.

Max pulls out the phone from her pocket, checking a new text message from Victoria.

> **Victoria Chase:** Hey are you okay? (8:24 AM)

The energy slowly courses through her veins in her small body, fueling her limbs to propel herself up, to a sitting position on the couch. She sees Chloe in her peripheral vision, giving uneasy eye contact to her. Max, instead brings the phone up, focusing on texting back to her good friend, the Queen-Bee of Blackwell.

> **Max Caulfield:** Yep yep :D (8:26 AM)

William comes back with the cup of tap water, handing it to the brunette. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, taking the cup with grace. She takes a sip of it, her face stiffens at the taste of abundant dissolved minerals in the room temperature water. She is used to the taste of cool, purified or bottled water. She forces through her uneasy throat, repeating herself, “Thanks.”

Chloe lets out a gentle smile, observing the slight grimace on her best friend’s face, but returns back to a calm composure.

“Of course, Max…” William smiles, but you can see the veins of exhaustion that contradicts his cheery attitude, surfacing on his face. He looks at his daughter, and then back. “I’ll let you two be. I’m going to talk to your mother. Shout, if you need anything.” He walks over to the table to pick up the stacks of envelopes and bills, then proceeds to head upstairs. There is a short moment of silence, as the two girls stare blankly at each other, listening to the gradual fading of William’s footsteps through the ceiling.

Chloe presses the magnetic piercing in her tongue into the inside of her cheek for a few seconds to activate the high-tech wireless wheelchair control that resides in her mouth. She, then presses her tongue into the bottom corner teeth, moving the wheelchair a few feet forward closer to her friend, before stopping. “Max… you okay?”

Max presses the plastic cup against her forehead, but her lips curve into a bitter smile. She forgot the room temperature water won’t provide the soothing chill she needs for her boiling forehead. “I’m fine, Chloe…” _Shit, what in the world just happened? My head feels like a total haze, and I don’t remember how I got here. Or at least how exactly I got here. I must have hit my head when I passed out. I swore the dream I just had was very important, but I have trouble remembering._ She takes another sip, letting out a sigh through her moist but pasty-feeling throat. “Today…and even yesterday has been all weird. I need to lay away from the bud.” She lets out a laugh.

Chloe blinks rapidly, sensing something odd from her best friend. She wets her lips, pressing tightly together with a blanching expression. “Max, I don’t like it that you’re smoking out. Not at all.” She scolds her but the tone isn’t fierce, as her voice is still soft with a slight hint of melancholy.

The brunette shakes her head profusely as a slight headache tingles into her brain, in addition, to it feeling shrouded in mist. She reflects back the scrutinizing remarks, “It’s safer than actual cigarettes.”

“It is also more illegal.” The blonde blows out a puff of air, “Sorry, I hate to be the wet blanket… especially one that can’t do anything other than spew shit all day because she can’t even more.”

“It’s okay, dork. Maybe I’ll remember what my dream is.” Max raises the cup to her mouth, but freezes before her lips can touch it. _I ran home and watched a movie with Chloe… right?_ Her eyes gaze at the fluid settling down in the cup, “I’m remembering something odd about it, though...” She looks back at her best friend, “I didn’t smoke out today or yesterday, but for reals… I felt I was being controlled by something.”

Chloe blinks her eyes slowly, keeping a calm look, “You’re high…”

“No joke…” She holds out her hand like she is holding a Polaroid between her fingers. “This picture, I remember gazing at it, and then I actually went into it.”

Chloe looks back with still wide and concerned eyes, “...so high…”

“Chloe, I’m serious. You don’t believe-” Max’s phone rings, interrupting the conversation. “Hold on…” Chloe nods her head, permitting her friend to answer the call. It is Victoria Chase, a new but already a great friend of Max. “Hey Vic, what’s up?”

“What’s up? You tell me.” Victoria’s tone seems frustrated but with sincere concern. “You weren’t texting me back after you ran off yesterday. Are we cool?”

“Yeah yeah...” Max smiles, pulling up her body from the sofa with Chloe’s eyes steadily following her. The brunette paces back in forth in short line, with the cup still in her hand. “Vic, of course, we’re cool. I just came back to see my best friend.” Her eyebrows furrow slightly, as that memory is vague in her mind.

“Oh, Chloe right? How is she doing?”

“She’s doing alright.” Max sniffs her nose, tilting her head to her best friend who has a dull and curious stare. “Hey Chlo, you wanna say ‘hi’ to my girl, Vic?” She walks over and presses her phone into her cold cheeks.

“Uh…” Chloe blinks her doe-looking eyes with a stony expression. “Yo.” Max laughs silently, taking the phone back.

Victoria’s tone jumps with some inflated enthusiasm, “Hiiiii… Chloe. How is it, hanging?”

Max snorts, “Hey stupid, it’s me.”

“Hey, I was trying to say ‘hi’ to your friend.”

“Well, maybe you don’t have to stretch your complacent mannerism.”

Chloe rolls her eyes, bobbing her head around, as even she is fuming from her drugged up state from the morphine. _Did Max forget about our conservation or something?_

“Hey bitch, don’t call me that.” Victoria snickers.

“You know you love me.” Max presses her lips, making several kissing sounds.

“I’ll give you that. So are you going to come help us set up for the party tonight?”

“Yeah I’m there. What do you want me to get?”

“Uh… I’m not sure. You know what? I actually think we might be good. Got the cups and everything, booze, and…” Victoria’s voice lowers to a whisper, but it is actually louder over the call. “...the good shit. Nathan going to get them tonight.”

“Yes! Fucking score!” Max throws a fist pump, with an ecstatic smile. “I never dropped before.”

“Well, it is time to pop your cherry, Caulfield.”

“Nah, I popped my cherry after prom back in Seattle. Oh, wait you’re talking about ‘E’, huh?” Max grins, baring her teeth.

“Oooh, scandalous. I still don’t have any game in that department. Sad face.” She lets out an exaggerated sigh.

“Ah Vicky, you’ll get your time. Fuck it, maybe under some shit, we can work something...” Max’s voice trails off seeing the sight of her disappointed friend.

Victoria senses the abrupt interruption as the line goes dead cold, “Max?”

Max, still maintaining eye contact with the cold stare from her crippled best friend. “Hey, actually I have to go, now… I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Oh… Sure thing. Au revoir.”

Max hangs up the phone, stuffing it back into her pocket in her white jeans. She walks back towards her stationary friend. _Shit, I probably shouldn’t be talking about these things around her. She may feel left out with all of it._ “Hey, Chloe… My bad about the things I said...”

“It’s all good. You’re just fucking around with your buddy.” Her face becomes stern looking, “But… you’re dropping?” She bites the inside of her lips, then she barks at Max, “I hope that’s slang that you’re going to drop all the nasty habits you’re doing for your very best friend.”

Max hunches her shoulders without anything to defend herself, “Chloe…”

“Don’t do ecstasy, Max. It can fuck up your brain. You’re sweet and the most talented girl I have ever known. I can’t see you going down this route.” Her neck buckles, from her tightening throat, swaying to the side. “I know I don’t get to live long, but until that day come, I want my best friend to be safe.”

Max looks back with concerned eyes, as the color escapes from her face. “You...don’t have long to live?” She puts the cup down on the wooden coffee table, that is cluttered with newspapers and coupons. Her eyes, steadily meet back to her best friend, as her throat also becomes thick. “Shit… now I’m remembering it.”

“You don’t remember our conversation?” Chloe scoffs under her breath, rolling her eyes. “Well fuck, I opened my heart to you…”

“Chloe, seriously… something odd happened earlier. More and more I think about it, it feels like I was sleepwalking. It is not drugs, I swear. Please just listen to me on this.”

Chloe blinks slowly, wetting her lips with her tongue. Observing her, and noticing the abrupt change in personality and mannerism has her thinking. She nods softly, “Alright, Max.”

Max's eyebrows arch in disbelief, “You’re dying?” She runs her fingers through the strands of her brown hair, before clenching tightly. “Your lungs… that’s right…” She dips her head down as some of the intricate details of these memories are slowly pouring back into her mind. “Shit, this is all hitting me so much.”

Chloe senses the distressed girl, slowly weakening. She tips her nose towards the white strawberry patterned couch, “Go lie down on the couch, Max.”

“No…” Max walks over to the blonde, kneeling down, squeezing both her shoulders, despite Chloe not able to feel the warm touch. “I want to hold you.” She looks back at the room where the dreadful experience just occurred. “The photo I was looking at… the day we were making pancakes…” She shows her clenched teeth and becoming more anxious thinking about the past. “I remembered also having the same headache that day when I was jumping in joy with William taking the bus.” She lets out a sharp laugh, but her face quickly returns back to neutral. “I hid his car keys in the backyard.”

"So... that's why we found Dad's car keys in the backyard later." Chloe’s eyes drift to the side for a moment, trying to recall more of that moment, then returns back with determination. “Yeah, I remembered you were acting all weird and shit. And you also... forgot what just happened…” She presses her lips tightly, “What else did you see, Max?”

Her head is full of shadows of straining thoughts. “Then I saw you… with blue hair, short like it is now. But you weren’t in a wheelchair.”

“Oh cool… you can peek in the other timelines to see how my life could be better.” Chloe lets out a sarcastic laugh, but her face goes immediately white. “Max, your nose is bleeding... a lot.” The brunette quickly catches the blood from dripping onto the floor, but it stains her amethyst-colored cardigan. “Max…”

Max continues shielding the blood from dripping, as well as squeezing her nose to prevent any more. Her voice is muffled through her hands, “I left you…” She lifts her head back up, giving steady eye contact. “...She left you…”

“She as in… the person that…” Chloe’s eyes roll around a little bit not fully believing what she is going to say next. “...took over your body?”

“Yes…” Her voice is weak but it squeaks through her hands. “...she couldn’t honor your request about killing you with the overdose. And she didn’t want to see you dying slowly with your condition. So she had to change everything… by going back to the past.”

“Time travel?” The blonde’s eyes burst with energy. “...Okay, that crosses the line…”

Max gets up abruptly, making her way towards the sink in the kitchen. She rinses her bloodied hands and her sleeves with soap and water. She then dries herself and grabs a fresh paper towel to stuff her nose. Chloe stares onto her from a distant, pondering about what her best friend just said.

Max returns back, taking out the paper towel from her nose, finding that her bleeding has stopped. “Chloe… you know I wouldn’t make this shit up.”

“Okay…” She nods her head, and her voice is nonchalant, trying to remain composed. The idea of time travel is absolutely insane. But she has some trust in her best friend, and there is something odd with the abrupt change in mannerism as well as the nose bleeds that’s impossible to joke around.

Max glances up and down at her best friend, and the high-tech wheelchair she is in. The tube that leads into her esophagus is basically an exposed fragile vital organ that she needs to survive. Max ponders at her stray memories. _She left her. The other version of me...She left...this._ Max does another glance at the terminally ill and crippled friend. _I know she was the one that took over my body starting yesterday and that time in the past with Chloe and William. I can feel it now. She left Chloe, because she’s dying…_

Max reaches over brushing the short blonde bangs of Chloe’s with her fingers. _She doesn’t believe me, but I know it is true. I won’t be a coward like that other version of me. I won’t ever leave Chloe._ She nods her head, trying to contain her emotions from spilling out. “Alright…” Her voice screeches through her throat, “...I won’t do any drugs tonight. I’ll play it cool.”

“Really?” she raises her eyebrows, at the rather obedient girl. “If whoever that took over your body helped you change your mind… then I’m all up for it.”

“No…” She tucks her bottom lip in, “...this is my decision.” Not wanting to give any credit to that coward timeline wanderer.

Chloe’s voice is stern, “Alright… I mean you’re underage, but a few drinks are cool. Just not the hard stuff, okay? Be careful around those, in case they put something in your drink.” She tips her nose up, giving a slight smirk. “If you ever dare to do any of that hard shit, I’m going to run you over with my wheelchair… just don’t hide upstairs, though. Then I can’t get to you.” The brunette lets out a giggle, as the blonde eyes her carefully. “And if you do it after I died, my ghost is going to haunt you.”

Max presses her lips thin as the joy dissolves quickly from her face, “Please don’t joke about that. Don’t give up hope, Chloe. There has to be a chance, even if it is small.”

Chloe looks on helplessly, “There is no hope, Max. Either way, I’m going to leave a huge debt for my parents. There is no hope for all of us. I’ve crippled my family.”

Max comes close, where you can feel her warm distressed breaths, “Don’t ever say that. Do this for me… don’t ever give up hope. I will always be here for you.” She presses her warm cheeks against hers.

Chloe wants to say something but the words halt at her tongue as she observes how serious her friend is becoming. With her declining condition, it seems she should be preparing for death. The odds are completely against her. But just the touching and warm sight of her friend somehow fills the cold void in her body with something unimaginable. Perhaps, maybe she has to hold onto just a little longer for this person. As she isn't quite ready to say goodbye to her. Not yet. Her voice is barely louder than a whisper, “Okay…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: This a quick story that is dedicated to an idea by Harpu from the LISF community. He mentioned how there is a lack of Alt Chloe timeline, which is understanding since that section of the game is somewhat ‘conclusive’. The more I worked on my other story ‘The Twin Moons’, I had more coherent thoughts about the multiverse ideas. Along with exploring a fairly untouched universe, this seems like a neat story to try out. Initially, this was going to be an one-shot but there is definitely an opportunity to be a multi-chapters story, hence the abrupt ending. I just had to urge to work on this, given the holiday to throw some ideas out there.
> 
> My focus is on ‘The Twin Moons’, but as I get some ideas or need a refreshing change of pace, I can work on this story. But don't expect any updates on this story, any time soon.
> 
> Thanks again to Harpu, for being a great friend and giving great feedbacks to help with my painful journey as a beginner fanfic writer.
> 
> Happy holidays, everyone!


End file.
